Location-based content delivery

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides for delivering content, such as information, advertisements, directions, and news, to a mobile terminal based on location. The mobile terminal is configured to determine its location and whether content is available based on internal records. If content is available, the mobile terminal may initiate correspondence with an application server to obtain the content. The mobile terminal may keep a table identifying the availability of content for defined locations. Preferably, the locations relate to cells within a wireless network wherein the mobile terminal will check for the availability of content for a given cell and request the content. The mobile terminal may check for the availability of content periodically or when the servicing cell changes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to delivering content to a mobileterminal, and in particular, to delivering content based on location inan efficient manner.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Mobile terminals, such as mobile telephones and wireless personaldigital assistants (PDAs), are now capable of receiving content fromvarious types of network devices and presenting the content to users ina visual or audible format. Users of these devices may browse theInternet and receive various types of content. Further, mobile terminalsmay cooperate with various network services to receive alerts relatingto any type of event or information.

Advertisers and other entities are trying to take advantage of thiscommunication medium by sending users information via their mobileterminals. Users are interested in obtaining this information, but areprimarily interested in obtaining information that is deemed beneficial.Information services have emerged that provide information based on theuser's location in order to target such information to those most likelyto benefit.

Many of the services providing information make defining and determininglocalities to associate with information difficult. People typicallyprefer to identify a locality based on common names and terminology,such as the name of an area, city, district, zip code, or the like.Existing location-based systems do not provide a user-friendly way toreadily identify or associate known localities.

Existing techniques for providing alerts and related information to auser's mobile terminal based on location are network centric. The taskof continuously tracking the user via the mobile terminal is placedsquarely on services in the wireless communication network. Typically,the network must continuously poll the mobile terminal to determinelocation information and take action when location criteria are met.Having to continuously poll large numbers of mobile terminals creates atremendous load on the wireless communication network.

Accordingly, there is a need for a technique to provide location-basedinformation to mobile terminals in an efficient and user-friendlymanner. There is also a need to minimize the impact on the wirelesscommunication network. There is a further need to provide an effectiveway to manage the information provided via the mobile terminal andassociate the information with readily recognized locations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides for delivering content, such asinformation, advertisements, directions, and news, to a mobile terminalbased on location. The mobile terminal is configured to determine itslocation and whether content is available based on internal records. Ifcontent is available, the mobile terminal may initiate correspondencewith an application server to obtain the content. The mobile terminalmay keep a table identifying the availability of content for definedlocations. Preferably, the locations relate to cells within a wirelessnetwork wherein the mobile terminal will check for the availability ofcontent for a given cell and request the content. The mobile terminalmay check for the availability of content periodically or when theservicing cell changes.

Each cell may represent a locality corresponding to a single cell, groupof cells, or sectors within a cell. The locality is preferably arecognizable area, which is easily identified by a typical user. Inorder to minimize the impact on memory, the mobile terminal willpreferably keep a relatively small table of locations and indicators ofavailable content. When the mobile terminal moves to new locations or isserviced by an unknown cell, the mobile terminal may request an updatefor a given cell or the entire table.

Further, the application server may access a profile to select contentto provide the mobile terminal based on user preferences, preferences ofa service provider, or a combination thereof. Additionally, theapplication server may access more precise location information for theterminal from other location services tracking the mobile terminal.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate the scope of the presentinvention and realize additional aspects thereof after reading thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiments inassociation with the accompanying drawing figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part ofthis specification illustrate several aspects of the invention, andtogether with the description serve to explain the principles of theinvention.

FIG. 1 is a block representation of a communication environmentaccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block representation of a application server constructedaccording to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block representation of a mobile terminal constructedaccording to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are a flow diagram outlining an exemplary process foroperating a mobile terminal according to one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 is a communication flow diagram representing an exemplaryoperation according to one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention uses a mobile terminal to help keep track oflocation information and the availability of information to download tothe mobile terminal for defined locations. The mobile terminal will keeptrack of a small list of cells corresponding to a certain locality. Eachcell or groups thereof may be associated with information to download tothe mobile terminal when the mobile terminal is located in or entersinto the defined cell or group of cells. The mobile terminal can detectwhen it enters a cell or group of cells, and identify if information isavailable for download because the mobile terminal is within aparticular cell or group of cells. If content is available, the mobileterminal may signal an application server to effect delivery of therequested information to the mobile terminal. Additional detail isprovided below.

The embodiments set forth below represent the necessary information toenable those skilled in the art to practice the invention and illustratethe best mode of practicing the invention. Upon reading the followingdescription in light of the accompanying drawing figures, those skilledin the art will understand the concepts of the invention and willrecognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressedherein. It should be understood that these concepts and applicationsfall within the scope of the disclosure and the accompanying claims.

A representative communication environment for implementing the presentinvention is illustrated in FIG. 1. A mobile terminal 10, such as amobile telephone or personal digital assistant (PDA), is serviced by awireless communication network 12 via a proximate base station 14. Thewireless communication network 12 will incorporate numerous basestations 14 to facilitate continuous coverage of an area forcommunications. Each base station 14 will typically providecommunications within a given area, often referred to as a cell.

While moving, a mobile terminal 10 will travel from one cell to another,wherein the associated base station 14 for a cell in which the mobileterminal 10 is leaving will transfer control of the communicationservice to the base station 14 of the cell that the mobile terminal 10is entering. Those skilled in the art will recognize the process ofhanding off communication from one base station 14 to another, and thevarious techniques within the numerous cellular communication standardswhereby a mobile terminal 10 can identify a base station 14 with whichto communicate. Most cellular communication standards provide signalingto the mobile terminal 10 identifying the servicing base station 14, andoften, the base stations 14 supporting adjacent cells.

The wireless communication network 12 supports communications with avariety of other networks, including the public switched telephonenetwork (PSTN) and packet-switched networks, such as the Internet.Typically, the circuit-switched communications supported by the wirelesscommunication network 12 as well as the PSTN interface with apacket-switched network through a gateway, or like portal, such as awireless portal 16. Further, the wireless communication network 12 mayincorporate packet-switched networks and communications to support callsignaling and other types of data transfer. Again, these basiccommunication concepts for supporting communications between and amongvarious networks should be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

With regard to the present invention, there is a need to supportcommunications between the mobile terminal 10 and various devicessupported in the packet switched network. In one embodiment, the mobileterminal 10 is configured to cooperate with an application server 18 torequest and receive information, such as alerts and content, from anynumber of services or databases configured to cooperate with theapplication server 18.

To customize services provided for the mobile terminal 10, a user mayaccess the application server 18 using a traditional personal computeror the like to establish a profile defining types of information todeliver to the mobile terminal 10 upon entering or being in definedlocations. These defined locations may correlate to customary areas, orlocalities, that are recognizable to the public at large. For example,defined areas may represent a town, an area within a city, a zip code,or a famous landmark. These locations may be assigned to correspondingcells or a group of cells. For the purposes of this disclosure and theclaims that follow, the terms “cell” and “group of cells” are referredto as a cell. As such, a cell may include multiple cells and sectorswithin a cell. Thus, a profile database 20 associated with or accessibleby the application server 18 may be used to store a profile for a mobileterminal 10 defining a location and content to provide when the mobileterminal 10 enters or is at the given location.

A content server 22 may provide various types of content for delivery tothe mobile terminal 10. The content may range from advertisements todirections and information about a specific location. Preferably, thecontent provided by the content server 22 will relate to a locationassociated with a given cell.

A mobile positioning server 24 or like positioning equipment representsa service capable of fine-tuning the position of a mobile terminal 10within a given cell. Depending on geography and population density,cells may vary in diameter from 50 meters to several miles. In largercells, it may be desirable to approximate the mobile terminal's actualposition within a cell and use the approximated position to furtherrefine the content to deliver to the user via the mobile terminal 10.The mobile positioning server 24 may be mobile positioning equipment,such as Nortel Networks Limited's e-Mobility Location Center, which iscapable of determining the location of the mobile terminal 10 within aparticular cell. Additional information on the architecture andoperation of the e-Mobility Location Center is available through NortelNetworks Limited, 380 St. Antoine Street West, World Trade Center ofMontreal, Montreal, Quebec H2Y 3Y4.

The mobile positioning server 24 may also access global positioningsystem (GPS) coordinates for the mobile terminal 10, assuming that themobile terminal 10 is equipped to determine and provide GPS coordinatesin a manner accessible by the mobile positioning serer 24. The wirelesscommunication network 12 may also include equipment capable of providingenhanced observed time differentiation (E-OTD), which is capable ofmonitoring signals received from one or more cells to estimate themobile terminal's location. Those skilled in the art will recognize theavailable systems and techniques for approximating the mobile terminal'sactual position.

For select embodiments of the present invention, the application server18 may access such location information to determine whether content isavailable or the type of content to provide to the mobile terminal 10.Thus, the mobile positioning server 24 may be used in select embodimentsto fine-tune position information. An online backup database 26 or likebackup service may be provided to store content that was or could bedelivered to the mobile terminal 10.

As shown in FIG. 2, the application server 18 may be a typical webserver having a central processing unit (CPU) 28 with the requisitememory 30 containing the software 32 and data necessary for operation.The CPU 28 is associated with a network interface 34 facilitatingcommunications with other devices, such as the wireless portal 16,mobile positioning server 24, content server 22, online backup database26, and profile database 20, on a packet-switched network through anynumber of local area networks, routers, switches and hubs in traditionalfashion.

The mobile terminal 10 of the present invention helps reduce the load onthe wireless communication network 12 by monitoring its location anddetermining if content is available. Thus, the need to continuouslytrack the mobile terminal 10 and identify the availability of content isremoved from the many tasks of the wireless communication network 12.Although the mobile terminal 10 may take on many configurations, anexemplary mobile terminal 10 is represented in FIG. 3.

The mobile terminal 10 may include a receiver front end 36, a radiofrequency transmitter section 38, an antenna 40, a duplexer or switch42, a baseband processor 44, a system controller 46, a frequencysynthesizer 48, and an interface 50. The receiver front end 36 receivesinformation bearing radio frequency signals from one or more remotetransmitters provided by the base station 14. A filter circuit 52minimizes broadband interference in the received signal, while adownconverter 54 downconverts the filtered, received signal to anintermediate or baseband frequency signal, which is then digitized intoone or more digital streams. The receiver front end 36 typically usesone or more mixing frequencies generated by the frequency synthesizer48.

The baseband processor 44 processes the digitized received signal toextract the information or data bits conveyed in the received signal.This processing typically comprises demodulation, decoding, and errorcorrection operations. As such, the baseband processor 44 is generallyimplemented in one or more digital signal processors (DSPs).

On the transmit side, the baseband processor 44 receives digitized datafrom the system controller 46, which it encodes for transmission. Theencoded data is output to the transmitter 38, where it is used by amodulator 56 to modulate a carrier signal that is at a desired transmitfrequency. A power amplifier 58 amplifies the modulated carrier signalto a level appropriate for transmission from the antenna 40.

A user may interact with the mobile terminal 10 via the interface 50,which may include input/output (I/O) and interface circuitry 60associated with a microphone 62, a speaker 64, a keypad 66, and adisplay 68. The I/O and interface circuitry 60 typically includesanalog-to-digital converters, digital-to-analog converters, amplifiers,and the like. Additionally, it may include a voice encoder/decoder, inwhich case it may communicate directly with the baseband processor 44.

The microphone 62 will typically convert audio input, such as the user'svoice, into an electrical signal, which is then digitized and passeddirectly or indirectly to the baseband processor 44. Audio informationencoded in the received signal is recovered by the baseband processor44, and converted into an analog signal suitable for driving speaker 64by the I/O and interface circuitry 60. The keypad 66 and display 68enable the user to interact with the mobile terminal 10, input numbersto be dialed, address book information, or the like, as well as monitorcall progress information.

Particularly useful for the present invention, the display 68 may beused for more data-intensive applications, such as providing messagesand information using the short messaging service (SMS), paging, email,and the like. Messages may be sent to the mobile terminal 10 to indicatethat content is available for viewing, describe available content, orprovide any information related to accessing, providing, and displayingcontent according to the present invention.

In one embodiment, the display 68 and keypad 66 cooperate to providesoft-key functions wherein icons displayed on the display 68 arepresented to the user and selected upon pressing an associated key. Theicons may represent available content and trigger display of the contentwhen pressed. Additionally, icons may be provided to give the useroptions to request, view, ignore, and save content as will be discussedbelow in greater detail.

As noted, the mobile terminal 10 is configured to associate content orthe availability of content with certain cells of the wirelesscommunication network 12. Preferably, the system controller 46 in themobile terminal 10 maintains a table for a number of cells andassociated content indicia. The content indicia may simply be a flagindicating the availability of content as well as an address forcontent, or may consist of actual content.

A process running on the system controller 46, referred to herein as adevice resident program (DRP), may be configured to access otherprocesses running on the system controller 46 to identify the cellcurrently serving the mobile terminal 10. The DRP may also identifychanges in servicing cells. Depending on the configuration, the DRP mayidentify a servicing cell or a change in servicing cells, and will thenuse the table to determine if content is associated with the cell.Notably, the DRP may identify a cell using identification for theservicing base station 14 or the like.

In one embodiment of the present invention, cells are associated withand used to define a commonly recognized locality. By defininglocalities with cells, users and content providers can more effectivelyidentify or associate commonly represented localities without having tounderstand cell layout and identification.

The table associating cells and available content may be updated basedon the location of the mobile terminal 10 to avoid having the mobileterminal 10 keep track of all available cells and whether or not contentis available for the cells. The number of cells or localitiesrepresented in the table will vary depending on available memory and thedesired processing speed. For the purposes of description, the tableassociating cells and available content is referred to as a localitytable. An exemplary flow outlining operation of the system controller 46in association with or under the control of the DRP is provided in FIGS.4A and 4B.

Initially, a locality table is downloaded to the mobile terminal 10(step 100), wherein the system controller 46 under the control of theDRP will monitor processes of the system controller 46 identifying theservicing cell (step 102). The DRP looks for a change in the servicingcells (step 104). If there is no cell change, the DRP continues tomonitor the servicing cell (step 102).

When there is a change in the servicing cell (step 104), the new cell isidentified (step 106), and the locality table is searched to see if thenew servicing cell appears in the table (step 108). If no match is found(step 110), the system controller will request an update for thelocality table, typically from the application server 18 (step 112). Theupdate will be received (step 114), and the DRP will update the localitytable (step 116).

Assuming that a match is found, initially or after an update (step 110),the DRP will determine if content is available for the cell (step 118).In one embodiment, the determination of whether content is available ismade by going to a position in the table for the servicing cell andseeing if there is associated content available. The indication ofcontent being available may simply be the existence of a flag.Alternatively, the table may include select content or an address forthe content.

If the table indicates that there is no content available for theservicing cell (step 120), the DRP will resume monitoring for a changein cells and repeat the above process. If content is available (step120), the DRP may determine content is actually available via theapplication server 18 (step 122). Although the locality table mayindicate that content is available, the actual availability of thecontent may have changed since the locality table was updated, or theremay be problems on the network preventing access to the content.

As such, a request may be sent to the application server 18 to check theavailability of the content (step 122). In return, the mobile terminal10 will receive indication that content is available (step 124), and theDRP may alert the user of the mobile terminal 10 accordingly byproviding audible or display indicia to the user (step 126). Inresponse, the user may provide an indication of whether or not thecontent should be provided to the user (step 128).

If the user declines to receive the content (step 130), the DRP willreturn to monitoring for a change in the servicing cell. If the userelects to receive the content (step 130), the DRP will control thesystem controller to request the actual content via the applicationserver 18 or from the content server 22 directly (step 132). Inresponse, the mobile terminal 10 will receive the content (step 134) andthe DRP will direct the system controller 46 to provide the content tothe user in a specified fashion (step 136). Upon receiving the content,the user may simply review and discard the information, or theinformation may include additional links starting a iterative process ofrequesting and receiving additional information as desired by the userand directed by the content.

An overall communication flow diagram for an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention is illustrated in FIG. 5. When a mobile terminal 10requests content or checks for the availability of content, a contentrequest is initiated. The content request is preferably a hypertexttransfer protocol (HTTP) request, and is intended to be routed to theapplication server 18 to initiate the execution of a content deliveryservice (step 200). As noted above, the application server 18, if soconfigured, may take any information sent with the content request, suchas identification indicia of the mobile terminal 10 and the servicingcell, and send a request for additional location information to themobile positioning server 24 (step 202).

The mobile positioning server 24 represents any type of locationdetermining system or service associated with the wireless communicationnetwork 12 or other positioning systems capable of identifying alocation of the mobile terminal 10. Preferably, the location informationis used to fine-tune the position of the mobile terminal 10 or otherwisedetermine the position of the mobile terminal 10 within a given cell.The location request is preferably an extensible markup language (XML)message, but those skilled in the art will recognize that the messagemay take many forms.

In response to the location request, the mobile positioning server 24will provide additional location information to the application server18 (step 204). The application server 18 will use the servicing cell andadditional location information, if available, to access a profile inthe profile database 20 to determine if content is available based onthe location and/or identified mobile terminal 10 (step 206). Theapplication server 18 will receive the profile information (step 208),and request any available content from the content server 22 (step 210).Assuming that content is available, the content server 22 will providethe requested content to the application server 18 (step 212), which maysend information to the mobile terminal 10 indicating that content isavailable (step 214). In response, the mobile terminal 10 will query theuser of the mobile terminal 10 to determine whether they would like toreceive the content immediately (A), store the content for later viewing(B), or ignore the content (C). The mobile terminal 10 will sendinformation pertaining to the user response to the application server 18(step 216), which will react accordingly.

If the user elected to immediately receive the content (A), theapplication server 18 will deliver the content to the mobile terminal 10(step 218). The mobile terminal 10 will preferably acknowledge receiptof the content by sending a corresponding acknowledgement (ACK) to theapplication server 18 (step 220).

If the user elected to store the content for future retrieval (B), theapplication server 18 may deliver the content to the online backupdatabase 26 for storage (step 222). Preferably, the online backupdatabase 26 will respond with an acknowledgement to the applicationserver 18 (step 224). The application server 18 may then send anacknowledgement of the backup to mobile terminal 10 for future reference(step 226).

If the user elected to ignore the content (C), the application server 18will take no further action beyond acknowledging receipt of the responseto the mobile terminal 10 (step 228).

Those skilled in the art will appreciate the scope and flexibility ofthe present invention. The inventive concepts provide for efficienttracking of mobile terminals 10 in order to deliver selectlocation-specific content to mobile terminals 10. The delivery ofcontent may be controlled by one or more profiles, which may be set upby the mobile terminal user or information providers. To determinewhether content is available, multiple profiles may be checked to makesure that a user actually desires select information. For example, aninformation provider may have numerous types of information availablefor a given location, whereas a user profile may be used to filter theinformation to provide only the information that is available and isdesired by the user.

The application server 18 may support services wherein users andinformation providers may define profiles based on localities, whereinlocations are associated with cells or positions therein in thebackground. Thus, an information service provider or user may want toprovide or receive, respectively, information when a user is inChinatown, Little Italy, or the Waterfront, all within a select city. Inthese cases, localities are based on real world locations and areas, andthe system architecture can determine which cells, groups of cells,sectors within cells, or the like correspond to those areas.

The content provided or otherwise pushed to the mobile terminal 10 mayinclude advertisements, traffic advisories, weather advisories, maps,directions, historical information, and the like to a user when they arein a location that would make the information relevant. In essence, amobile terminal 10 may download a relatively manageable list of cellsfor a particular locality and compare its current location to the list.If the current location is deemed to contain information, the mobileterminal 10 may query the application server 18 via a short messageservice (SMS), wireless application protocol (WAP)/HTTP browser, orother in-band communication function, to provide such information.Alternatively, the user may be notified that content is available anddetermine whether or not to receive the information.

Typically, the mobile terminal 10 will include a table definingmultiple, contiguous areas, wherein the mobile terminal 10 willdetermine the change from one area to another and access or otherwisealert the user that such information is available. For example, if anoverall table relates to a town, city, or zip code, cell groupingswithin the table may represent business districts, shopping districts,and tourist districts. The tables may be updated as the mobile terminal10 is moved outside of a coverage area.

The areas defined by cells may be broken into smaller areas ifadditional positioning information is obtainable. Further, thetriggering event to determine if content is available may take manyforms in addition to simply triggering upon entering a new area, such aswhen a servicing cell is changed. The mobile terminal 10 may beconfigured to periodically check for information while within a givencell or area definition. Those skilled in the art will recognizenumerous techniques to provide additional triggers and control contentthat are within the teachings provided herein.

Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modificationsto the preferred embodiments of the present invention. All suchimprovements and modifications are considered within the scope of theconcepts disclosed herein and the claims that follow.

What is claimed is:
 1. A mobile terminal facilitating delivery ofcontent to a user comprising: a) communication electronics supportingcommunications with a wireless communication network; and b) a systemcontroller associated with the communication electronics and adapted to:i) identify location indicia bearing on a location of the mobileterminal by identifying a cell servicing the mobile terminal; ii)determine if content is available for the location of the mobileterminal, wherein said content comprises location-based informationabout places or entities within the location; iii) effect delivery of amessage to a remote application service indicative of the mobileterminal being in a location where content is available for delivery tothe mobile terminal; and iv) determine if the content is available forthe location of the mobile terminal when the cell servicing the mobileterminal changes.
 2. The mobile terminal of claim 1 wherein certain ofthe cells correspond to a generally recognizable locality.
 3. The mobileterminal of claim 1 wherein the system controller provides a tableassociating a plurality of locations with content availability indiciaindicating if content is available for the plurality of locations andthe system controller is further adapted to determine if the content isavailable using the table.
 4. The mobile terminal of claim 3 wherein thesystem controller is further adapted to effect an update request when anunknown cell is serving the mobile terminal and receive an updateindicating the availability of content for the unknown cell.
 5. Themobile terminal of claim 3 wherein the system controller is furtheradapted to effect a request for a new or updated table upon entering anew location.
 6. The mobile terminal of claim 1 wherein a correspondingbase station identifies the cell.
 7. The mobile terminal of claim 1wherein the cell is at least one of the group consisting of one cell, agroup of cells, and at least one sector within a cell.
 8. The mobileterminal of claim 1 wherein said system controller is further adapted toalert a user of the mobile terminal once content is determined to beavailable and receive a response from the user indicating how toproceed.
 9. The mobile terminal of claim 1 wherein said systemcontroller includes a device resident program adapted to identify thelocation indicia bearing on the location of the mobile terminal anddetermine if content is available for the location of the mobileterminal.
 10. A method for providing content to a mobile terminal basedon location comprising: a) receiving a message from the mobile terminalresponsive to the mobile terminal determining that content is availablefor a given location wherein the given location is a cell servicing themobile terminal; b) accessing the content associated with the givenlocation; c) delivering the content to the mobile terminal, wherein saidcontent comprises location-based information about places or entitieswithin the given location; and d) answering an inquiry from the mobileterminal as to whether content is available for the location of themobile terminal when the cell servicing the mobile terminal changes. 11.The method of claim 10 further comprising obtaining location informationfor the mobile terminal from a positioning service and wherein theaccessing step is based on the location information obtained from thepositioning service.
 12. The method of claim 10 further comprisingaccessing a profile defining the content to provide to the mobileterminal.
 13. The method of claim 10 further comprising: a) determiningif the content is actually available; b) delivering information to themobile terminal indicating that the content associated with the givenlocation is available; and c) receiving a response from the mobileterminal to deliver the content to the mobile terminal prior todelivering the content to the mobile terminal.
 14. The method of claim10 wherein the message from the mobile terminal identifies a cell orbase station servicing the mobile terminal.
 15. The method of claim 14wherein the cell or base station correlates with a recognizablelocality.
 16. A computer readable medium comprising software forinstructing a computer to: a) receive a message from a mobile terminalresponsive to the mobile terminal determining that content is availablefor a given location wherein the given location is a cell servicing themobile terminal; b) access the content associated with the givenlocation; c) deliver the content to the mobile terminal, wherein saidcontent comprises location-based information about places or entitieswithin the given location; and d) answer an inquiry from the mobileterminal as to whether content is available for the location of themobile terminal when the cell servicing the mobile terminal changes. 17.The computer readable medium of claim 17 further comprising instructionsto obtain location information for the mobile terminal from apositioning service and wherein the content that is accessed is based onthe location information obtained from the positioning service.
 18. Thecomputer readable medium of claim 16 further comprising instructions toaccess a profile defining the content to provide to the mobile terminal.19. The computer readable medium of claim 16 further comprisinginstructions to: a) determine if the content is actually available; b)deliver information to the mobile terminal indicating that the contentassociated with the given location is available; and c) receive aresponse from the mobile terminal to deliver the content to the mobileterminal prior to delivering the content to the mobile terminal.
 20. Thecomputer readable medium of claim 16 wherein the message from the mobileterminal identifies a cell or base station servicing the mobileterminal.
 21. The computer readable medium of claim 20 wherein the cellor base station correlates with a recognizable locality.
 22. A systemfor providing content to a mobile terminal based on location comprising:a) means for receiving a message from the mobile terminal responsive tothe mobile terminal determining that content is available for a givenlocation, wherein the given location is a cell servicing the mobileterminal; b) means for accessing the content associated with the givenlocation; c) means for delivering the content to the mobile terminal,wherein said content comprises location-based information about placesor entities within the given location; and d) answering an inquiry fromthe mobile terminal as to whether content is available for the locationof the mobile terminal when the cell servicing the mobile terminalchanges.
 23. The system of claim 22 further comprising means forobtaining location information for the mobile terminal from apositioning service and wherein the means for accessing is based on thelocation information obtained from the positioning service.
 24. Thesystem of claim 22 further comprising means for accessing a profiledefining the content to provide to the mobile terminal.
 25. The systemof claim 22 further comprising: a) means for determining if the contentis actually available; b) means for delivering information to the mobileterminal indicating that the content associated with the given locationis available; and c) means for receiving a response from the mobileterminal to deliver the content to the mobile terminal prior todelivering the content to the mobile terminal.
 26. The system of claim22 wherein the message from the mobile terminal identifies a cell orbase station servicing the mobile terminal.
 27. The system of claim 23wherein the cell or base station correlates with a recognizablelocality.
 28. A mobile terminal facilitating delivery of content to auser comprising: a) communication electronics supporting communicationswith a wireless communication network; and b) a system controllerassociated with the communication electronics and adapted to: i)identify location indicia bearing on the location of the mobileterminal; ii) provide a table associating a plurality of locations withcontent availability indicia indicating if content is available for theplurality of locations; iii) determine if content is available for thelocation of the mobile terminal using the table; iv) effect delivery ofa message to a remote application service indicative of the mobileterminal being in location where content is available for delivery tothe mobile terminal; and v) effect an update request when an unknowncell is serving the mobile terminal and receive an update indicating theavailability of content for the unknown cell.